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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Documentary Film about Konfirm, a Research Project by Jon Adams

On the 14th of June this year, artist Jon Adams presented 'Konfirm', an interesting (and live-streamed) performance/talk from his residency at the Autism Research Centre.
Konfirm was his first artistic output for the ARC, and was a sound work prompted by systematic processes which were presented in audio and visual metaphor.

" Documentary film about Konfirm, a research project by artist Jon Adams.

Adams' artwork explores sense and sensitivity through the 'hidden' and plays with perceptions of normal and the inaccessible. A geologist by training, Adams' seeking of the concealed in his art often reveals his naturally systematic thinking: his inclination and ability to uncover systems within everyday interactions and landscapes.

In this residency and research project, Jon Adams sets out on a personal, artistic and scientific investigation of his own Asperger's Syndrome, through a series of conversations, observations and experiments, working in collaboration with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge.

Rather than a specific pathology, Baron-Cohen sees autism as being on a continuum in the general population. He proposes that certain features of autistic people - 'obsessions' and repetitive behaviour - previously regarded as purposeless, are conversely highly purposive, intelligent (hyper-systemising), and a sign of a different way of thinking. He argues that high-functioning autism or Asperger's Syndrome need not just lead to disability, but can also lead to talent.

This collaborative research project has emerged from an initial meeting between Jon Adams and Simon Baron-Cohen at an Arts Catalyst/Shape project Alternative Ways of Thinking: Exploring the Autistic Mind at the Cheltenham Science Festival in 2011."